It may be raining all across the Ivy League, but the sun still shines in Cambridge.

While everybody else was having a bad week, the Harvard men's soccer team chalked up a blowout win over a not-ready-for-prime-time Hofstra squad.

In the process, the Crimson regained its elevated heights in both the Ivy League and New England Division I polls.

Harvard (5-3-1 overall, 2-0-1 Ivy) now sits atop the Ancient Eight and trails only Boston University and Hartford in the regional poll. Yale's stunning 1-0 road win over Dartmouth last Saturday knocked the Big Green from the pinnacle of the Ivy League and gave the Bulldogs their first league win.

Princeton, a loser this weekend to national powerhouses Duke and Virginia, awaits this Friday's matchup against Harvard with weighty Ivy stakes in the balance.

If it suffers just one league loss, Harvard will fall back into the turbulent Ivy current, which the Crimson, for the moment, floats ever so gently above.

There will be no floating this Friday, however.

"We have to be at the top of our game," Harvard Coach Stephen Locker said.

He shoots, He Scores

Chris Wojcik picked up his second Ivy League Rookie of the Week with a two goal, two assist the Flying Dutchmen.

The freshman forward vaulted into ninth place on the overall Ivy scoring list.

Wojick still trails Harvard Captain Jason Luzak, whose pair of assists floated him to sixth place on the overall list. The senior also was named to the Ivy League Honor Roll for his performance against Hofstra.

Having It Your Way

As if events were not already favoring the Crimson and Wojcik last Saturday..

With 10 minutes gone in the second half, Harvard already held a comfortably 2-0 lead over Hofstra, which would soon be a 5-0 shutout. But Wojcik, who had already scored once against the Flying Dutchmen, was not satisfied.

Wojcik, who take most Crimson corner kicks, was concerned about the blustery conditions on Ohiri Field. Specifically, the corner flag's flapping must have distracted him, because the Westfield, N.J. native asked a nearby ballboy--wearing an ever-so-large Harvard jersey--to hold the recalcitrant flag off to the side.

Talk about the home field advantage.

Unfortunately for Harvard, the referee saw the play a bit differently, whistling the ballboy away and leaving the freshman forward to deal with the wind on his own.

Nice try, Chris.

How Could He Miss This One?

Sophomore Derek Swaim, who also exploded against the Flying Dutchmen (didn't everybody?), is showing an amazing knack for finishing.

Granted his second drive into the twine with 40 seconds left on Saturday was partly the result of Hofstra's second-half sag. But after his third last-minute goal this season, the sophomore forward's play begs the question:

What was Mike Getman, last year's Harvard coach, thinking when he placed Swaim on the junior varsity last season?